Robert DeFrancesco’s
TechStockProspector.com
December 26, 2012
A Look at Some Top Performing Tech Stocks for 2012
NOW AVAILABLE: The December 2012 issue of Tech-Stock Prospector for your
Amazon Kindle or Kindle for iPad/iPhone reading app.
Here are some of the topics covered in the December 2012 issue:
*8 Disruptor Tech Companies for 2013
*Splunk delivers the growth
*Salesforce still showing disruptor qualities
*A look at Eloqua & ExactTarget
*The Aruba Networks battle against Cisco heats up
*Akamai inks CDN alliance with AT&T
*Cisco wants more software revenue
*Is Acme Packet poised for a rebound?
*Why Palo Alto Networks is winning market share
*Infoblox surprises to the upside
*Valuing fast-growing Workday in the SaaS segment
*Analysts weigh in on Riverbed’s OPNET purchase
*Fortinet shares regroup following pullback
*Fusion-IO positioned for growth in flash storage
*TSP Deal Report: Sourcefire
Order the December 2012 issue here:
http://www.amzn.com/B004T6Z0ME
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Here is a sampling of some winning tech stocks for 2012:
*Rackspace Hosting (RAX, $72.27), a provider of cloud services, saw it shares
advance 68% for the year. But it wasn’t a straight shot to this stellar performance, as
the stock rallied into the spring and then sold off sharply during the summer, falling
to a low of $40.57 in late July. The consensus revenue estimate for 2013 indicates
expected growth of 26.1%.
*One of the biggest competitive battles in the enterprise tech world these days is
between Oracle (ORCL, $33.61) and Salesforce.com (CRM, $166.34). Both were
winning stocks in 2012, but Salesforce took the #1 spot among the two by a wide
margin, rising 63.9% against a 31% gain for Oracle shares.
*Shares of enterprise cloud-software provider Ultimate Software (ULTI, $93.80)
have come down a bit from the 52-week high of $106.40, but the stock is still up
44% YTD, having ended 2011 at $65.12.
The company is performing well on the top and bottom lines, with 2012 EPS
expected to come in at $1.01, up from 65 cents last year, on revenue growth of 23%.
For 2013, the consensus estimates: EPS of $1.39 on revenue of $409.8 million
(estimated top-line growth of 23.8%).
*One of the big cloud-software winners for 2012 is NetSuite, (N, $66.50). The shares
ended 2011 at $40.55, giving them a YTD gain of 63.9%. Last week, the stock traded
to a new 52-week high at $67.82. For 2013, analysts on average look for NetSuite to
come in with impressive top-line growth of 29%.
*The winning social networking play for 2012 was LinkedIn (LNKD, $115.29). The
stock ended 2011 at $63.01, giving it a stellar YTD return of 82.9%.
*It hasn’t been a bad year for shareholders of Akamai Technologies (AKAM,
$41.39), as the stock has gained 28.2% from the 2011 close of $32.28. The shares
last week hit a new 52-week high at $41.88.
*Yahoo (YHOO, $19.57) shares are back on the winning track, gaining 21.3% for the
year.
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Read the latest issue of Tech-Stock Prospector on your Amazon Kindle or Kindle for
iPad/iPhone reading app.
Here’s the Kindle link: http://www.amzn.com/B004T6Z0ME
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Tech-Stock Prospector Managing Editor Rob DeFrancesco has more than 20
years of experience covering the tech sector. He is a former senior writer with
Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street.
TechStockProspector.com, launched in 2003, is an investment-research service
focused primarily on the networking, storage, security, wireless and software
sectors. Annual subscription: $350.
For more information or to place an order, call 800-392-0998.